Samsung Galaxy S4 coming in blue, red, purple and brown

The Samsung Galaxy S4 is getting a splash of colour at last. Samsung is brightening things up with new blue, red, purple and brown versions of the Android smart phone powerhouse.

The new colours are Blue Arctic and Red Aurora, to be followed later by Purple Mirage and Brown Autumn. Who wants a brown phone? Each to their own: if you want an autumn-coloured phone then I'll leaf that up to you.

Whether we'll see these colours here in Blighty is yet to be confirmed. The S4 has taken some stick for its plastic case: it's durable but feels slightly cheap, so at least a lick of paint will brighten things up.

It was the iPhone that decreed all phones had to be black or white, with all but the most muted colours largely lacking from the smart phone palette for the past few years. But a welcome burst of colour exploded onto the smart phone scene like a paintball bursting against the window of Phones 4U with the arrival of the luminous Nokia Lumia range, resplendent in brightly hued cases matching the on-screen colours of the Windows Phone software.

A splash of colour is promised for the Samsung Galaxy S4 Active, a waterproof version of the S4 -- and for my money, it's a better-looking take on the flagship phone, even if you do sacrifice quad-core power for a dual-core chip and rugged good looks.

Is black the only colour that matters, or do you want a whole rainbow to choose from? How important is the look of a phone to you and your friends? Tell me your thoughts in the comments or paint me a picture on our Facebook wall.